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Thursday, May 6, 2010

Recipes I'm lovin'

I'm always on the look out for recipes that are 1. easy 2. healthy 3. cheap and 4. crowd pleasers (and by crowd I mean my children...and if John liked it, that would be okay too!) In the past couple weeks I have gotten two new cookbooks. They are wonderful! Yummy, healthy recipes! Here are 3 of my favorite recipes from the past couple weeks.

The first one comes from Healthy Choices: No sugar. No white flour. No artificial anything. Be still my heart!

Quick Beef and Noodles
1 lb hamburger
1/2 c. chopped onion
8 oz. noodles
4 cups tomato juice
1 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt

In a 5 quart kettle brown beef and onion. Add the rest of the ingredients except sour cream and cover. Simmer 15-20 minutes until noodles are tender. Add sour cream and heat again.

Yes....that's it. This recipe reminds me of hamburger helper except SO much better. It's much richer and tastier. I also like the fact that it is a stove top meal so I don't have to turn on my oven during these hot summer days. And, hello! It's so quick and easy!

Another thing that I am always on the look out for are main dishes that are meatless. We only eat meat about 2-3 times a week. So I like to try new vegetarian recipes now and then to add to my collection. These next two are some of my new favorites

This next recipe is from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. If you don't know who Alice Waters is, she is the real originator of the food revolution back in the 70's. She believes locally grown, organic food should be available to everyone and has been working hard to see it happen in the school system.

Spaghettini with Oil and Garlic
1 lb. spaghettini (fancy way of saying thin spaghetti)
1/3 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, chopped fine
3 parsley branches, leaves chopped
a pinch of hot pepper flakes (optional)
salt

Bring water to a boil in a large pot and cook pasta until al dente. Meanwhile, heat oil in a heavy pan over medium-low heat. When oil is just warm add remaining ingredients. Cook until garlic is soft, turning off hte heat just as the garlic starts to sizzle. Don't let it brown.
Drain pasta when cooked, reserving some of the cooking water. Add the noodles to the sauce in the pan with a pinch of salt and toss. Taste for seasoning and loosen with some cooking water if needed. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

We added some halved grape tomatoes just after the garlic went in. Yum! Lilly said this was the best spaghetti she'd ever had. That puts it at the top of the list in my book. And I can't tell you how fast this was...like 15 minutes. You could add some olives or maybe even...ahem...bacon. :)

The last recipe is one I found on allrecipes.com as I was browsing their vegetarian recipes. Now, bare with me because it sounds a little weird but I have made it several times and it is delicious. I'm not going to bother typing it out but I'll give you the link and you can see for yourself!

3 comments:

Steve, Amanda, Kyle , Owen, and Madilyn said...

The last recipe definitely sounds and looks a little different. But, I must say it could be very yummy and I am thinking that I might have to give it a try! Thanks Amanda!

Erika said...

Always love your recipe ideas!! I tried (and loved) the sweet potato burritos due to your suggestion. Nice find!

Erika said...

By the way Amanda....did you see the comment my mom left in response to you on my blog? She answered your question about putting Scripture on the wall...just wanted to make sure you saw it. :)